TUCSON — A once-prominent Aspen socialite convicted of first-degree murder in the 1996 Tucson car bomb killing of her ex-husband was sentenced Thursday to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Pamela Phillips also was sentenced to 25 years to life for conspiracy to commit murder.

“I’m innocent! I’m innocent!” Phillips said, turning to the gallery to make her statements. “This is a nightmare.”

Phillips, 56, couldn’t receive the death penalty because she was extradited from Austria, which has a treaty with the U.S. that won’t allow anyone to be extradited for prosecution if they face capital punishment.

A Pima County Superior Court jury last month found Phillips guilty of having businessman Gary Triano killed with a pipe bomb outside a Tucson-area country club.

Prosecutors said Phillips hired ex-boyfriend Ronald Young to kill Triano to collect on a $2 million life insurance policy so she could maintain her extravagant taste for the good life. She spent years abroad living a lavish lifestyle across Europe.

Authorities said Young was paid $400,000 to carry out the hit. He was convicted in 2010 and sentenced to two life terms in prison.

The state’s case against Phillips hinged largely on the purported secret arrangement between Phillips and Young, whom the defendant dated while working as a real estate broker in Aspen, after she divorced Triano.

Triano was a developer who made millions investing in Indian bingo halls and slot-machine parlors in Arizona and California but later went broke.